Holy Roman Empire

On the Near East Battlefield, the defense of Ankara had reached a crucial moment. The strength that the Ottomans displayed in defending their capital astonished the Russians.

Fortunately, Marshal Ivanov was accustomed to seeing great spectacles, otherwise, the daily casualties that reached into the thousands would be unbearable for most people.

Unlike the Prusso-Russian War, which was a matter of national fate, the eventual collapse of the Ottoman Empire was already a foregone conclusion; further horrific casualties were utterly meaningless.

At that moment, Marshal Ivanov stared blankly at the map of Ankara, as if searching for a quick way to defeat the enemy. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

A tall young military officer entered the room and reported, "Marshal, the Ottoman Government has sent a representative who wishes to discuss..."

Without waiting for the officer to finish, Ivanov decisively refused, "No!"

The young officer hesitated, holding back his words. Although he thought that accepting the surrender of the Ottoman Government could end the war with the least cost, Ivanov had already made his decision, and as a soldier, obedience to orders was the foremost principle.

After a moment of silence, Ivanov added, "Send the Ottoman representative away, and don’t report this kind of thing again in the future."

If it were possible to accept the surrender of the Ottoman Government, the war would not have dragged on until now. If the Anti-Turkish Alliance was willing to accept the Ottoman nobles, someone would sell out the Sultan Government within minutes.

The astounding combat power that the Ottoman Government managed to muster was, in reality, borne out of desperation.

Ordinary people could surrender, but the Ottoman nobility could not. For the Anti-Turkish Alliance to annex the Ottoman Empire, they inevitably had to purge the upper echelons of the nation.

Without eliminating these vested interests, how could they make room for those who had contributed to their success? In the distribution of the spoils, there must be spoils to divide.

Fueled by the power of hatred, both the Vienna Government and the St. Petersburg Government issued retaliatory orders in unison—refusing the surrender of the Ottoman Empire.

Upon reaching the Allied Command, this order was further expanded and refined. In summary, there were two points:

1. Forbidding frontline soldiers from negotiating with Ottomans in any form.

2. The Allied Forces would only accept one type of surrender: laying down weapons and entering prisoner-of-war camps.

At first glance, these orders seemed mild, but they effectively eliminated the possibility of the Ottoman Empire’s surrender. Entering prisoner-of-war camps meant losing everything.

To those with vested interests, this was akin to demanding their lives. The Allied Forces left no room for survival, so the opposing side naturally fought desperately.

Although the Allied Command had substantially overinterpreted the upper echelon’s orders, no one stood up for the Ottomans.

This was the power of hatred. Both Austria and the Russian Empire harbored deep-seated enmity towards the Ottoman Empire.

Inevitably, the nobility of both nations, with a heritage lasting over a century, had extensive blood feuds with the Ottoman Empire.

Unfortunately, those who held power in both nations were precisely the enemies of the Ottomans. With national and personal hatred combined, it was inconceivable not to seek revenge.

As for the heavy casualties, which war did not have its dead? After experiencing the Prusso-Russian War with millions of deaths, no one would flinch at the four-digit daily casualties.

For the bureaucrats in the rear, these were but a set of numbers, far less significant than the political gains.

...

With a heart filled with doubt and anxiety, Prime Minister Midhat entered the underground palace within the Palace, a product of the last war.

Having witnessed the might of the Austrian airships, Abdul Hamid II had decisively ordered the construction of an underground palace.

To avoid the aerial threat, the Ottoman Government had moved underground to conduct their operations since the outbreak of the defense of Ankara.

Abdul Hamid II full of expectation, asked, "What’s the situation like, have the Russians agreed to negotiate with us?"

As the war progressed to its current state, Abdul Hamid II had accepted reality. Since Europe did not have a tradition of regicide, even if there was post-war retribution, at most he would be exiled.

Based on his understanding of Austria, he believed that the anti-Ottoman alliance led by the Vienna Government would not take such extreme actions. It was very likely that a parcel of land would be carved out to send the Ottoman remnants there en masse.

The only trouble was that it wasn’t the Austrian Army attacking Ankara, but the unruly Russians.

Midhat shook his head, "The Russian Army commander, Ivanov, has an extreme hatred for us. He didn’t even show his face before he chased away the representatives we sent over.

It’s basically certain that negotiating with the Russians is a dead end."

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Abdul Hamid II’s face turned pale instantly. The door to negotiation being shut meant trouble, and it couldn’t have been clearer.

The troubles caused by his ancestors now required him to pay the price. Whether it was the one in Vienna or the one in St. Petersburg, both had a motive to kill him.

Regicide is a grave sin, met with condemnation by the European world, but there is an exception, and that is dying on the battlefield.

With a "bang", Abdul Hamid II threw a cup not far away and said fiercely, "If the enemy leaves us no way out, then we’ll have to fight them to the end.

Activate the destruction plan. Even if we’re going down, we’ll drag them down with us. We’ll all go..."

...

The Near East War entered its final stage, and the "Guano War" came to a close. Chile, Bolivia, and Peru ultimately had to sit down at the negotiation table.

The British defended their dominance in South America with action, suppressing the two challengers from England and France.

Under the influence of the great powers’ games, the unfortunate Bolivia and Peru ended up as the losers.

You can’t blame a lack of support; even without control of the seas, England and France somehow managed to send in supplies, but it was a shame they themselves were not up to par, losing on the battlefield despite having a two-to-one advantage.

To secure their logistical support, Austria even gave the Colombian Government a heavy blow, and now Colombia hasn’t yet recovered from its civil war.

In this cruel world, might makes right. With Bolivia and Peru losing on the battlefield, they naturally couldn’t hold their heads high at the negotiation table.

The South American War seemed to last more than three years, but in reality, the casualties for all parties were not severe.

Of course, this "not severe" is relative to Europe. For the three fledglings, it was a significant blow to their vitality.

Altogether, Chile suffered 16,000 battle deaths, while Bolivia and Peru each lost 19,000 and 17,000, respectively—casualties far exceeding those of the same period in history. It could be called the largest scale war in the history of the South America region.

England, France, and Austria were all busy; now was not the time to stir trouble in South America. Without the meddling of the major powers, this negotiation went very smoothly.

Without any surprises, as the victor, Chile obtained the coveted Atacama Desert, while Bolivia, as the number one unfortunate party, lost all its coastal territories, directly becoming a landlocked country.

Franz was not surprised by the failure of the probe in the South American region. The status of the United Kingdom as the world’s dominant power was built by the Royal Navy, gun by gun, bullet by bullet—how could it be so easily shaken?

Moreover, the Vienna Government had gains to match their sacrifices. Setting aside Bolivia, which was nearly on its last breath, Franz’s covert strategy had been a success.

Using the South American War as an opportunity provided a pretext for Austria to plan for Panama’s independence movement, avoiding the collective anger of the South American countries.

To this day, the Panama Independence Organization already controls a quarter of the territory of the Republic of Colombia, frequently pressing the Colombian government forces to the ground and beating them up.

This was the result of the governor’s mansion of Austrian Central America deliberately keeping control. Otherwise, the independence organization could have swept through the whole of Colombia.

It sounds impressive, but in reality, it’s nothing much. The whole population of the Republic of Colombia, young and old, totals just over two million people, a quarter of whom are white.

It’s normal for them not to beat the independence organization—after all, that’s just a front thrown out in the open. The real military force is still the Austrian colonists.

Fighting on their own behalf, their combat power is always easily overwhelming. The Austro-Central American colonial government promised that whoever conquered the territory would own it.

Then, civilian colonial teams rushed in frantically, soon leaving the Colombian Government questioning its existence.

It was supposed to be the Panama Independence Organization, but now they’re drinking from the "Magdalena River," and they’re not showing any sign of stopping.